Clippings (August-October 1999)Clippings (August-October 1999)Cash plea for CCTV upgrade (T&A, Oct 21, 1999)
Camera system reaches shortlist (T&A, October 16, 1999)
£1.3m bid to help us focus on crime in city (T&A 12 Oct, 1999)
Cameras to track crime (T&A, 7/10/99)
CCTV decision time (T&A, Oct 5, 1999)
Let us focus on criminals (T&A 25/9/99)
A society caught on camera (Yorkshire Post, 15/8/99)
Shops in war on villains (T&A, 13/8/99)
T&A, 13/8/99
Shopping centres are waging war on criminals across the Bradford district.
Offenders have been banned from a Keighley shopping centre from today and face prosecution for trespassing.
And the pioneering scheme could be adopted in Bradford where talks have already been held between the police and traders.
The first exclusion notices have gone out to ten convicted and active criminals barring them from the Airedale Centre, Keighley, in a radical scheme operated jointly by traders and the police.
The projects would be the first in West Yorkshire and are like schemes operated by the Metropolitan Police and London businesses.
Chief Inspector Ray Shepherd, of Bradford Central police, said talks had already been held and the issue would be discussed at a Bradford Retail Action Group meeting next week.
He said they would keep a close watch on the neighbouring scheme.
In Keighley anyone convicted within the last three years of certain types of crime - such as theft and drug-related offences - will be excluded.
Airedale Centre co-ordinator Mike Millbank said: "We are simply attempting to keep it a nice, safe, and secure centre for the traders and the shoppers. We prefer the anti-social element in the town to stay out."
Inspector Mick Hopwood of Keighley police said town centre officers and traders would identify the people who would be barred. He said they would be people who had previously caused trouble at the centre.
Insp Hopwood said a rogues' gallery of photographs would be available - under strict supervision - to members of the initiative.
He added: "If they are spotted in the centre they will be trespassing and face prosecution. Under certain circumstances they may be arrested."
The Bradford and Keighley traders are already linked to police by radios so that information can be shared and crime prevented or detected.
The police in the city already have an early warning system where officers are issued daily with small photographs of wanted criminals which they carry in their pocket books.
There are also CCTV cameras in both shopping centres. Mr Shepherd said a larger scheme for Bradford had been discussed. "It has its merits - but you have to have the full co-operation of the organisations involved."
Eric Hudson, president of Bradford Chamber of Trade, said: "I think it is an excellent scheme. We are fighting a constant battle against shop theft. There are casual thieves and specialists who plan it and make a living out of it."
Jeff Frankel, chairman of Bradford Retail Action Group, said: "I think it is a terrific idea. It requires a lot of organisation."
Manager of Bradford's Kirkgate Centre Catherine Riley said she could not comment until she knew the full details of the Keighley scheme.
T&A 25/9/99
HORSFORTH:
Problems with shoplifting and anti-social behaviour in a bustling shopping centre could lead to the installation of closed circuit television cameras.
In a bid to cut crime, councillors from Horsforth Town Council are proposing to install television cameras around the busy Town Street area.
Councillors and beleaguered traders are set to meet a camera supplier on Monday for a demonstration of how the cameras could work.
T&A, Oct 5, 1999
SPEN VALLEY: The Home Office is set to decide this week whether a bid for CCTV anticrime cameras in Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike will go ahead. Kirklees Council together with West Yorkshire Police lodged a bid for £200,000 surveillance system which would be monitored in Huddersfield. Kirklees planning officer Stan Driver said the Home Office had received 750 applications from around Britain and was currently working through them.
By Olwen Vasey, T&A, 7/10/99
Portable 'spy' cameras will zoom into Bradford's trouble spots for the first time in a major crime busting project.
Mobile closed circuit television cameras have been included in a £1.3 million bid to the Government by Bradford Council and its partners. And an announcement was due today on which bidders will be accepted for the second round.
The Council also announced that it had finalised a deal with Vodaphone for the company to install 22 columns in the city centre for the cameras.
The company - which will pay for the columns and contribute to the rest of the scheme - will be able to put antennae for its own telephone network on the columns.
The package has been submitted to the Government in a bid for a slice of the £153 million pot offered by the Home Office for CCTV systems in the city.
It includes portable units, 22 new cameras and hi-tech control centre in Britannia House, which would have a fibre optic link to the Shipley and Keighley systems.
If the bid beats off competition from cities across Britain to the second round it will work the scheme up in detail.
Chairman of the Council's Community Safety Sub Committee, Councillor John Ruding said: "We hope to use portable cameras where problems are happening in outlying areas."
He said the Council would contribute £300,000 towards the scheme but had "stuck its neck out" because their £1.3 million bid was the highest the Home Office had received.
by OLWEN VASEY, City Hall Reporter, T&A 12 Oct, 1999
A bid for a pioneering scheme where town and city centres throughout the district would be watched 24 hours a day took a major step forward today.
Home Secretary Jack Straw has shortlisted Bradford for a share of a £153 million pot offered by the Home Office for closed circuit television.
Community safety leaders were celebrating after being told the £1.3 million bid had won support.
During the next six weeks the Crime and Disorder Partnership - made up of the Council, Police, shopkeepers and ,other organisations - will spend six weeks working up the detailed bid before sending it back to the Home Office.
It would bring the most sophisticated system ever to be installed in Bradford with links between the city centre Keighley and Shipley Mobile cameras would also be brought in
There would be a control room in Britannia House and specially trained officers would watch the district for 24 hours, every day of the year.
The Partnership has told the Home Office that during the day up to 150,000 workers, shoppers and tourists visit the city centre and significant numbers come to Bradford in the evening.
The Partnership has pointed out that it is the home of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, which attracts one million visitors a year. The city has 80 pubs and bars, of which 25 have special hours.
But the Home Office has been told that the city centre is a crime hot spot for offences including vehicle crime, damage and drugs.
The existing CCTV scheme was one of the earliest in the country and was installed nine years ago and is now out of date.
Today, Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said: "I am very pleased indeed. It indicates we have put together a good case which is worthy of very serious consideration.".
Community safety Sharmilla Ghandi said: "We now have to work very hard to put in the end bid."
Saturday October 16, 1999, (T&A)
The Craven Community Safety Partnership's bid for a closed circuit television system to reduce crime in Skipton town centre and surrounding car parks has been shortlisted for further consideration.
Over 700 outline applications were received by the Govermnent to be assessed for the £50 million available for town camera systems.
The number has now been whittled down to 376, which includes Skipton's proposal.
Mick Cartledge, head of economic and community development at Craven District Council, said the group was very pleased with outcome. "We are all now frantically working hard to put together a detailed proposal which has to be done by November 19," he said.
The group is now looking closely at monitoring options, either from Skipton or another area like Harrogate which had been suggested previously.
The team is currently discussing opportunities with BT and camera suppliers and looking at finalising decisions on camera positioning and operational requirements.
Mr Cartledge hopes to invite the public to an open day in the near future so that questions can be raised and people can pledge their support for the project.
T&A, Oct 21, 1999
A planned upgrade of Keighley's crime-busting CCTV network is being supported by Bradford councillors.
Members of the transportation, planning and design committee is backing a bid for £1.3 million of government cash to improve the spy camera system across the whole district.
Control rooms in each town will be brought together in one centre in Bradford which will be linked with the area's police operational control room.
Keighley traders recently expressed concern that the move would be a backwards step that could jeopardise the present success of CCTV
But they were assured that control room staff with local knowledge would be retained and radios used by Keighley shopkeepers would still work.,
The local Crime and Disordei Reduction Partnership, whose members include police and the
Council, is seeking Home Office funding for the new system.
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